Comments Thread For: Oleksandr Usyk playing the part of a champion in transition

[BoxingUpdates]

Usyk has an acting role in the The Smashing Machine and is showing plenty of signs that he is preparing for a life after boxing, says Eric Raskin, who also reviews the movie.
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[SouthpawRight]

this film has quite the cast

[Bob]

I'm hearing alot of heavyweights saying Usyk is holding the belts hostage. No! These are entitled to modern day boxing melts that just want a participation belt & not to be the best like Usyk who has earned his break.
They said nothing when Aj was actually holding the belts hostage with permanent rematchroom clauses against shot old men & cans stalling the division until Usyk rescued it.

Usyk thanks Aj for his opportunity but again No! He earned it through undes*****g & fighting everyone unlike the duck melt he skooled.

Enjoy Usyk whilst he boxes & hopefully breaks Paul in a cage.

Sensored un de spu t ing? Morons.

[NihonJim]

I'm hearing alot of heavyweights saying Usyk is holding the belts hostage. No! These are entitled to modern day boxing melts that just want a participation belt & not to be the best like Usyk who has earned his break.
They said nothing when Aj was actually holding the belts hostage with permanent rematchroom clauses against shot old men & cans stalling the division until Usyk rescued it.

Usyk thanks Aj for his opportunity but again No! He earned it through undes*****g & fighting everyone unlike the duck melt he skooled.

Enjoy Usyk whilst he boxes & hopefully breaks Paul in a cage.

Sensored un de spu t ing? Morons.

Such nonsense.

AJ was an active champion and didn't stall any of his mandatories, Usyk himself got his WBO title shot quickly with minimal issues.

I've never heard fans saying "he deserves a break" about any other champion, giving carte blanche to hold up the division.

Usyk has had 6 fights in 4 years (and counting)

Klitschko had 10 fights in 4 years from Haye to Fury

Usyk is NOT a very active champion "oh he deserves a rest" he's had a rest, he's had 2 months, now announce a fight or drop the belt if you can't defend it.

Asking champions to fight twice a year is entitled now

[Boxing 112]

Such nonsense.

AJ was an active champion and didn't stall any of his mandatories, Usyk himself got his WBO title shot quickly with minimal issues.

I've never heard fans saying "he deserves a break" about any other champion, giving carte blanche to hold up the division.

Usyk has had 6 fights in 4 years (and counting)

Klitschko had 10 fights in 4 years from Haye to Fury

Usyk is NOT a very active champion "oh he deserves a rest" he's had a rest, he's had 2 months, now announce a fight or drop the belt if you can't defend it.

Asking champions to fight twice a year is entitled now

"Usyk got his shot quickly and with no issues" what are you on about. Usyk was AJs mandatory soon as he moved up to Heavyweight in 2019. AJ stalled that mandatory. Usyks team sent legal letters to Matchroom and WBO in 2021 and only when this happened Hearn/AJ were forced to get the fight made as it happened pretty much after the legal threat from Usyks lawyer. If you watched Hearns interview it was clear he did knew Usyk was a big risk, I remember an interview I think 2020 when asked about Usyk, he said something like "we keep fighting mandatories with this (wbo mando) we might not want to fight AJ is at the level he can choose who he fights" basically was claiming sick of mandatories might not fight Usyk. But he wasn't sick of the easier mandatories, these comments were only made when Usyk was mando. I will need to find this interview again but I remember thinking a that point 100% they are ducking Usyk / putting it of as long as they can. After the legal threat (search it on boxing scene there is an article somewhere). Yes AJ could have dropped the wbo belt, but that would have been a PR disaster dropping it to avoid Usyk, so they were basically forced to finally give Usyk his shot.

Although I agree on the point Usyk should be more active and don't believe his injury excuse in this case, he is fine dancing, playing football matches, hollywood movies I think he wants a break but also Parker was not a big name that would be a big payday so claimed back injury to see what the situation is end of the year. I think he is just waiting out to see which 1 last fight could be the biggest payday, and that isn't Parker or Wardley.

[kafkod]

"Usyk got his shot quickly and with no issues" what are you on about. Usyk was AJs mandatory soon as he moved up to Heavyweight in 2019. AJ stalled that mandatory. Usyks team sent legal letters to Matchroom and WBO in 2021 and only when this happened Hearn/AJ were forced to get the fight made as it happened pretty much after the legal threat from Usyks lawyer. If you watched Hearns interview it was clear he did knew Usyk was a big risk, I remember an interview I think 2020 when asked about Usyk, he said something like "we keep fighting mandatories with this (wbo mando) we might not want to fight AJ is at the level he can choose who he fights" basically was claiming sick of mandatories might not fight Usyk. But he wasn't sick of the easier mandatories, these comments were only made when Usyk was mando. I will need to find this interview again but I remember thinking a that point 100% they are ducking Usyk / putting it of as long as they can. After the legal threat (search it on boxing scene there is an article somewhere). Yes AJ could have dropped the wbo belt, but that would have been a PR disaster dropping it to avoid Usyk, so they were basically forced to finally give Usyk his shot.

Although I agree on the point Usyk should be more active and don't believe his injury excuse in this case, he is fine dancing, playing football matches, hollywood movies I think he wants a break but also Parker was not a big name that would be a big payday so claimed back injury to see what the situation is end of the year. I think he is just waiting out to see which 1 last fight could be the biggest payday, and that isn't Parker or Wardley.

This is a very biased and misleading post.

AJ didn't stall his mando when Usyk moved up to HW. Usyk didn't even try to fight AJ when he first moved up. He wanted to aclimatise to the new weight first and signed to fight Carlos Takam, but that fight was postponed when Usyk suffered a bicep injury that kept him out of training for 6 months. It was rescheduled, then called off again when Takam pulled out.

By the time Usyk had his first fight at HW, against Chaz Witherspoon, AJ had already lost his titles to Ruiz Jr.

Usyk then signed to fight Chisora, but that one was postponed because of the pandemic, and didn't happen until after AJ had won his titles back in the Ruiz rematch.

AJ had to fight his IBF mando with Pulev next, and was then given permission by the WBO to postpone his mando with Usyk in order to fight Fury for the undisputed crown. We all know how that went. 24 hours after the date for AJ vs Fury was announced, it was called off after a legal ruling ordered Fury to fight a totally pointless trilogy with Wilder instead.

The "legal threat" you are talking about wasn't aimed at AJ/Hearn. What actually happened was that, as soon as the undisputed fight between AJ and Fury was scuppered, Usyk's attorney sent a letter to the WBO petitioning them to order a mandatory defence by AJ against Usyk. The mando was ordered, and the rest is history.

[kafkod]

I'm hearing alot of heavyweights saying Usyk is holding the belts hostage. No! These are entitled to modern day boxing melts that just want a participation belt & not to be the best like Usyk who has earned his break.
They said nothing when Aj was actually holding the belts hostage with permanent rematchroom clauses against shot old men & cans stalling the division until Usyk rescued it.

Usyk thanks Aj for his opportunity but again No! He earned it through undes*****g & fighting everyone unlike the duck melt he skooled.

Enjoy Usyk whilst he boxes & hopefully breaks Paul in a cage.

Sensored un de spu t ing? Morons.

They also didn't say anything when Wilder and Fury prevented the division from being unified by fighting nobody but each other, over and over again, in a 3 fight series of totally pointless rematches. Or when Fury stalled unifying with Usyk for another 2 years after that, by agreeing terms, then moving the goalposts, then signing to fight, then pulling out, etc, etc ...

[Boxing 112]

This is a very biased and misleading post.

AJ didn't stall his mando when Usyk moved up to HW. Usyk didn't even try to fight AJ when he first moved up. He wanted to aclimatise to the new weight first and signed to fight Carlos Takam, but that fight was postponed when Usyk suffered a bicep injury that kept him out of training for 6 months. It was rescheduled, then called off again when Takam pulled out.

By the time Usyk had his first fight at HW, against Chaz Witherspoon, AJ had already lost his titles to Ruiz Jr.

Usyk then signed to fight Chisora, but that one was postponed because of the pandemic, and didn't happen until after AJ had won his titles back in the Ruiz rematch.

AJ had to fight his IBF mando with Pulev next, and was then given permission by the WBO to postpone his mando with Usyk in order to fight Fury for the undisputed crown. We all know how that went. 24 hours after the date for AJ vs Fury was announced, it was called off after a legal ruling ordered Fury to fight a totally pointless trilogy with Wilder instead.

The "legal threat" you are talking about wasn't aimed at AJ/Hearn. What actually happened was that, as soon as the undisputed fight between AJ and Fury was scuppered, Usyk's attorney sent a letter to the WBO petitioning them to order a mandatory defence by AJ against Usyk. The mando was ordered, and the rest is history.

It was a legal threat. Aj ducked for as long as he could. I will find the interview where Hearn talks about might even just drop the wbo, and this was like a year before.

[kafkod]

It was a legal threat. Aj ducked for as long as he could. I will find the interview where Hearn talks about might even just drop the wbo, and this was like a year before.

There was no legal threat to AJ, that's a dumb idea. And he couldn't have ducked Usyk even if he'd wanted to. Usyk was his mandatory challenger and when the fight was ordered, AJ had two choices ... fight him or vacate the belt.

AJ decided to defend his belt and Usyk himself has always given AJ props and respect for that decision. Whatever Hearn might have said in an interview a year earlier is irrelevant.